NEW DELHI: Indian Hockey on Wednesday plunged into a fresh controversy with some senior players raising a banner of revolt against its foreign coach Jose Brasa for his autocratic style of functioning even as the establishment downplayed the internal turmoil.
Some senior players, including former captain Sandeep Singh, have expressed serious resentment against Spanish coach Brasa, who has been accused of bias and being dictatorial in his attitude.
The development, which had been gaining ground since the last few days, has prompted HI President A K Mattoo to fly to Pune to sort out the issues.
The players are undergoing a training camp in Pune’s Balewadi Complex for the Champions Challenge tournament to be held at Salta, Argentina, from Dec 6-13.
Asked specifically if there was a revolt against the coach, Mattoo said, “There was no such thing as a revolt. I have heard murmurs of some resentment by some players and I am flying to Pune tomorrow to assess the situation. There is nothing to be alarmed.”
“I will go there and try to understand the situation and make my own assessment. Some differences are bound to crop up when you have a tough coach. I will hear both the sides and look into the matter,” he said.
Mattoo said such incidents should not be blown out of proportion in the larger interest of Indian hockey.
“I am myself concerned and I am sure everything will be sorted out,” Mattoo said.
A top HI source said that some seniors players were up in arms against Brasa and accused him of deliberately sidelining them.
Brasa however has denied any breakdown in his relationship with the players and said he will personally meet players tomorrow and clear the air.
The breakdown in the relationship between the coach and some of the senior players came about immediately after Sandeep Singh was sacked as captain during India’s seven-match series against Canada recently.
A HI official also said that there was no question of a revolt as none of the players, who have skipped the camp, were part of the squad.
“How can you call it a revolt when these six or seven players are not in the squad. Some of them are injured while others could not make the cut when the squad was pruned,” said the official, who did not want to be named.
Brasa, who took over as the coach in May this year, was having problem with the Sports Authority of Indian officials over procurement of the equipment.
Brasa was sent as part of FIH’s initiative to help India regain its hockey glory and the contract was signed with Sports Authority of India till the 2010 Asian Games.
Brasa took over the reins of Indian hockey team after the acrimonious exit of legendary Australian player Ric Charlesworth, whose tenure as Techincal Director was marked by a series of controversies.
The players who are learnt to have been unhappy with Brasa include Ignace Tirkey and Prabodh Tirkey, who are not in the squad for Salta but are part of the core group preparing for the Commonwealth Games.
The players are also miffed with the appointment of Rajpal as the new captain, pointing out that he has little experience and has not been a regular member of the team.
Sandeep has opted out of the ongoing camp because of a back injury and there is still some confusion about the seriousness of the injury and how long he will be out of the game.
But Brasa does enjoy support of some of the players, who say the so called revolt is the handiwork of some disgruntled players, who could not make it to the team on merit.
“If these players had problems why they did not raise it earlier and sort it out with the coaching staff. Why are they raising issues just before the tournament?,” a player who is in the team, said on the condition of anonymity.